HEB 11:35-38 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection.
Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.
They were stoned*; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--
the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

Dr Tong started by sharing with the people his hectic schedule flying in and out of the USA, preaching in gospel rallies and seminars everywhere. He spoke at Billy Graham Centre for a training session meant for mainland Chinese. He was asked why he would agree to preach 3 sessions to only 300 odd people, flying so many hours all the way to the USA. But he said that he believe these people would be pivotal for the future of China, and he wanted to invest his time in them. He was rebuked by officials of the Centre however, for having had criticism on wrong doctrines and erroneous practices in churches, as the Centre does not permit criticism against others. Dr Tong replied that he respected the Centre's ministry, but he has to be responsible to his God. In the last session, he emphasized that John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul all had criticism against the authorities. Paul in fact spoke out against the hypocrisy of Peter. So Dr Tong said that he has to be faithful to the revelation of God and speak out against untruth. He then declared to the people there that he would not accept any payment from anyone for this session, not for transportation or honorarium.

Dr Tong clarified that his ministry is different from that of Dr Graham. His role is to stand firm against errors of the church and speak out against it. Many Asian church leaders are often in awe of western leaders and are overly influenced by them. Many a times, this is because they are the source of financial aid. Dr Tong said that in his entire ministry, he has never done any fund-raising. He has never asked a single person for a dollar for his ministry, so as to maintain firm neutrality as he speaks of the WORD (I have personally been pondering about this all the time... I wonder if this can work for a normal preacher who cannot command the pulpit the way Dr Tong does).

Dr Tong illustrated the example of an Indian preacher Bakht Singh, who preached in the USA for 2 months and was asked by an American if he needed any financial aid. Singh replied that he needed nothing but their prayers. After he left, the Americans commended that he was the only Asian preacher who was not a beggar. Asian preachers often think of financial aid as the grace of God. Dr Tong believes that we need to have the right principle and faith in God, and stand up for our stand.

After flying all over the places, he finally reached Markasa (sic), Indonesia for gospel rally. He has not been there for 6 years, and so the condition he gave was that they need to prepare for the rally well. Thousands of people came for the 3 evenings and the message was broadcast to the city, which was largely Muslim in population. It was rather dangerous to preach in this manner, but Dr Tong believes that he needed to preach in this manner. More than 10,000 people essentially heard the gospel finally. At the end, he was so exhausted that he did not even bother to join in any fellowship dinner. He had an accident, slipping and falling on the marble floor (he was limping the whole evening) and hurt his back.

September 2002 would go down in history as the busiest month for Dr Tong, and he requested prayers from the people.

Dr Tong then went into the main text, from verses 35 - 38. The earlier verses were about positive victories of the people of faith. Verses 33, 34 gave us 9 different incidents of positive victories over difficulties in life. Dr Tong reiterated that faith is not about an understanding in our reason only, but is the devotion of our entire life. Faith is directed above this temporal world, into the invisible world. Although we cannot see it physically, our spiritual eyes enable us to see what others cannot see. A person of faith enables us to grasp that which cannot be seen by others - the hand that created heaven and earth. So we are not afraid - the same hand holds tomorrow, and the entire history of man. So by holding on to this hand, we can have victory over the uncertainties of history. To God, nothing happens by chance. He is fully in control.

Can we really have hope in a changing world? The world would say no, but our faith is not based on this changing world or era. Our entire life has been placed in the hands of the unchangeable God. The verses today describe a 'reversed' victory. A positive victory is easy to recognise, everybody can see that there is success on the surface. A reversed victory is one that may look like failure, but in reality is true victory. In fact, it is victory upon victory. In this sort of victory, one may not be able to sing praises, but it allows a person to really enter into spiritual maturity.

Verse 35 talks about women who received back their dead. In the Old Testament, we see Elijah and Elisha raising the dead, Elijah at Zaraphath, and Elisha at Shunem. Elisha also resurrected the dead with his own bones, fulfilling the promise that he would have double of Elijah's power. In the New Testament, we see Peter and Paul raising the dead, Peter raised Tabitha, and Paul resurrected Eutychus. 2 in the OT, 2 in the NT. Another person actually believed in the resurrection without actually resurrecting anyone. This was Abraham, who had faith that Isaac must be resurrected even if he were to sacrifice them, because God promised that descendants must come from Isaac rather than Ishmael. These were positive victories.

But the subsequent description is reversed, people who were tortured and refused to be released. The Bible does not tell us who these people were. Clearly there are many unsung heroes in the Bible. It is strange that people would choose not to be released, or not to be rescued. Dr Tong said that we can find the answer in heaven as we visit every saint there is. The key is the word 'better', which is the key word throughout the book of Hebrews. There is a better covenant, better hope, better mediator, better home, better life, better resurrection. These people were so very confident that they looked down on all sorts of torture to hold on for a better future. They need not have instantaneous delivery, and had faith enough to overcome everything.

Jesus Christ said "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (Matthew 10:28), a statement Dr Tong declared as revolutionary. In the OT, we often equate God's blessings with prosperity, health and peace. But in the NT, the situation was quite reversed. Almost all of the apostles died a terrible death. When we make a comparison, it would seem difficult to understand, for He did promise us peace. The solution is to understand that verse from Matthew. Satan is the person who can kill the body but not the soul. The soul can be killed by our sins, so Dr Tong said Christians should not be afraid of anything, but sinning against God. Actually, the OT saints suffered greatly as well, although it was not implicit. Jesus Christ said that the blood of the righteous Abel to Zechariah has been shed (Matthew 23:35), indicating that in the OT, the saints too suffered greatly for God.

Verse 36 and 37 described many different types of persecution. Dr Tong then spoke about an incident that happened many years ago. In the last gospel rally at Makarta (sic), some one reminded him of what happened decades ago when he preached there when he was only 26. Back then, after preaching at Makarta (sic), he went to Balopok (sic), a little village 400 km from Makarta. The road was in a very bad condition, with no tar and lots of potholes. So he traveled for 2 days and 1 night on a jeep, crawling along the road. The dangerous thing was that there were Muslim militant rebels that manned the road. The Session forbade him from going there, but he thought that the LORD was leading him there, so he went against the church leadership. The Army sent 2 soldiers to escort him, one with a large machine gun.

After 12 hours, they covered 200 km and spent the night in a little village, and they were in the midst of the Muslim insurgency. But he was not afraid. The next day, the traveled along the way and it was eerily quiet as there was no civilisation for a long journey as they traveled through the jungle. They finally reached the place and he preached for 7 days in that little town, preaching on the 7 characters of Christ, one per day. He preached strongly about Christ as the only Saviour, preaching even to Muslims among the audience. An elderly Chinese man came to him and told him that he has lived there for 40 odd years, and this is the first time he realised that a Chinese can be a preacher. Dr Tong wept when he realised that this man would not hear the gospel if he had not made the journey.

When the rally ended, they had to leave without announcing the timing, so that the terrorists would not know their schedule. Along the way, the jeep broke down in the midst of the terrorist-controlled area. The jeep's axial had broken down due to the bumpy road. He found a wire that some villager was using as a cloth line, and bought the wire to fix the axial, and they were able to carry on. Dr Tong realised that the machine gunner was shivering with fear. When asked, he said that the terrorist would attack the machine gunner first.

Dr Tong said that this illustration tells the younger generation that people of his generation were prepared to die for their faith. As they went through danger after danger for the gospel, they became stronger in faith, as they experienced the goodness of God. Places like Singapore with no danger or problems can create an environment where people become afraid of suffering. Here the Bible spoke about people who suffered greatly for their faith, and we must be prepared to do the same.

Another incident occurred when Dr Tong was preaching in Takan Bahru (sic). His message was very stern and solemn, telling the people to repent from a lifestyle that was concerned only with worldly pleasure. After he preached, an army officer complained to the local pastor that Dr Tong was rude and critical, and he wanted to complain to the central army unit against him. The pastor replied that the Bible was more vicious in its rebuke, with John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and Peter using more critical language in their rebuke. But the army officer sent a unit to arrest Dr Tong, but they missed him by 2 hours as he has left earlier.

Dr Tong challenged the people to realise that faith is not simply something you do or say when you are at peace, or when everything is going well. The true measure of faith is what happens when there is danger ahead. Are you going to stand firm? Are you going to say what needs to be said? Are you willing to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness? Are you willing to be assaulted for His name's sake?

The Bible does not tell us who these people were, but the author recorded actual incidents of these unsung heroes. The person sawed into two was probably Isaiah. Although Isaiah was from a royal bloodline and was the most educated prophet with the most important revelations of Christology given through him, he suffered greatly in his life. Nonetheless, he knew of his own unworthiness as seen in Isaiah 6. Ironically, God sent him to preach among people who would not understand, who would close themselves from the gospel. Isaiah was told this at Isaiah 6, but he was obedient to the end, all the way till his death by sawing into two.

All the descriptions of suffering there really do not give people any confidence of God's providence, or victories of any sort. How can the obedient servants of God suffer in this manner? But verse 38 tells us that the world was not worthy of them, a verse that greatly moved Dr Tong. God's method is simply not man's method, and these great men of faith were so great that the world is not worthy of them. On the surface, they suffered greatly. Dr John Sung suffered greatly from bone cancer in the last days of his life, although God healed many through him. We do not understand why God did not choose to heal or save these saints, but they never compromised, surrendered or give way. They were always faithful despite it all, and so the world is not worthy of them. But in other places of the Bible, these people were said to be worthy of the kingdom of God. So while this world despises them, the heavenly world find them worthy.

Dr Tong then repeated an earlier illustration, an illustration that moved me greatly. Sundar Singh, the great Indian saint said that when one travels around India, one enters into different villages. The dogs of these villages will come barking at you, because you do not belong to those villages. So Sundar Singh said that when the dogs of the world is barking at you, it is but a reminder that you do not belong to this world. Dr Tong said that he knows of no better illustration than this, to tell us the world will persecute the Christian, but it is a mere reminder that we do not belong to the world.

Dr Tong ended by telling the story of Rev Andrew Gih, the evangelist who called him into full-time ministry. Rev Gih in his old age met one of the western missionary that he used to work with. When they spoke to each other, Rev Gih asked the missionary what he is doing now. The missionary replied, "I am retired". When the missionary asked Rev Gih what he is doing, Rev Gih replied, "I am re-fired". Rev Gih worked for the LORD till the last day of his earthly life. When asked why he would not want to rest, Rev Gih said that he will want to rest only in his heavenly home.

We need to be joyous in the midst of our journey on earth, despite the difficulties ahead. We have the examples of the past saints to guide us, and the promise of the future to sustain us.

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.